Letter-box



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LETTER BOX.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SAMUEL A. DARRACH, OF NEVARK, NEV JERSEY.

LETTER-BOX.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 427,464, dated May 6, 1890.

Application iiled November 7, 1889. Serial No. 329,465. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL A. DARRACH, a citizen of the UnitedStates,residing at Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Letter-Boxes, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a letter-box of a novel construction, as pointed out in the followingspeciiieation andclaims,and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l represents a Vertical section in the plane a? a', Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section in the plane g/ y, Fig. l.

In the drawings, the letter A designates a letter-box, which is provided with a gate B. This gate is constructed to close the opening a, through which letters or packages are to be introduced into the boX, and it is mounted on pivots b b, or instead of these pivots a rod may be used which extends throughout the entire width of the box, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 2. On the inside of the gate is secured a toothed segment c, which meshes into a toothed segment CZ, formed on or secured to the cut-off D. This cut-off consists of a met-allie plate of sufiicient width and length to prevent access from the upper portion of the box to its lower portion, as will be presently explained. Said eut-off swings on pivots c c, passing through the sides of the box and through the segments d d, Fig. 2, or on a :rod which extends throughout the entire width of the box, and its weight lis such that when left to follow its inherent gravity it assumes the position shown in full lines in Fig. l, and it carries the gate B to its closing position.

On the top of the box A is formed an arch f, and when the gate B is forced inward the cntoff D rises, and by the time the free edge of the gate has passed the arch f, so that a letter or package can be pushed into the box the cut-off has reached the position indicated in dot and stroke lines in Fig. l, and it guards against the possibility of any successful attempt to abstract from the interior of the box any of its contents. As soon as the letter or packagehas been pushed in far enough to drop upon the cut-off D the latter drops down to its normal position, the letter or package is deposited in the lower port-ion of the box, and the gate B is closed.

From the inner surface of the arch f projects a fiange 7L, and from the inner surface of the box A, beneath the gate B, projects an inclined flange g.

If during a storm the upper end of the gate be forced slightly inward and snow or rain should pass to the liange 7L, such flange would defiect the snow or rain downward to the flange g, from which itwould drain off beneath the lower edge of the gate.

Vhat I claim as new, and desire to-secure by Letters Patent, isd

l. The combination, with theletter-box having a front letter-receiving opening, of a cutoff plate D, pivoted at its upper end, normally depending vertically inside the box and having a toothed segment d, and a gate B, pivoted in the box, swinging inwardly thereinto for the insertion of a letter and having a toothed segment c, which, as the gate moves inward, acts to swing' the cut-off plate upwardly to an approximately horizontal position across the box, substantially as described.

2. The combination, with the box A and the pivoted gate B, of the defleeting--iiange h, projecting downward and forward from the upper part of the box in rear of the gate, and the draining-flange g, projecting inward from the front of the box and beneath said gate, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

SAMUEL A. DARRACH.

Vitnesses:

W. C. HAUEF, E. F. KASTENHUBER. 

